Kids and adults alike love getting dressed up for Halloween – and spooky makeup and face paint are part of the magic. But what if that Halloween makeup contains ingredients you’d rather not use? Yep, heavy metals, talc, and endocrine disrupting parabens are not what I want to paint on my child’s skin! What we need is natural Halloween makeup we can use for babies and toddlers!
It’s so fun and easy to make your own natural face paints that you can use at Halloween and other times of the year. And once you have your natural Halloween makeup sorted – a spooky Halloween outfit, dramatic hair styling, face makeup, and fake blood are all you need to complete your look!
These beautifully safe Halloween makeup ideas will surprise and delight you and your kids!
The hidden ingredients in Halloween makeup
This article from Campaign for Safer Cosmetics explains how some American Halloween makeup kits marketed at young kids are contaminated with heavy metals such as lead and cadmium.
Isn’t that worrying?
There are no safe levels set on exposure to lead. It can cause a range of long-lasting health problems including hyperactivity and learning difficulties.
Cadmium is an endocrine disruptor that interferes with hormones.
UK and European makeup is generally safer than US makeup. Safe face paints are easier to come by, but I still have my reservations.
Why “non-toxic” Halloween makeup may still be concerning
In the UK, many brands of Halloween makeup are labelled non-toxic. In this case, you’d expect a safer product than the kind mentioned above.
These brands still concern me. That’s because although the ingredients are FDA approved, they’re not perfectly safe and healthy for young children. It’s not like they’re going to immediately create any adverse reactions on your child’s face, more, it’s the long term health implications they have the potential to bring.
Without mentioning individual brands, if you go and look in the supermarkets you’ll see Halloween makeup with worrysome ingredients such as:
- Phenoxyethanol – a potential skin irritator and toxic for babies
- PEGs
- Artificial dyes – synthetic dyes like Red 6, Yellow 5, etc opposed to safer mineral pigments
- Propylene glycol
Hit the links on each to see why I won’t buy skincare containing any of these ingredients.
The reason shop-bought cosmetics contain preservatives is because they need to stay fresh on the shelf.
You should never use these kinds of face paints on under threes.
Most of the products recommend a small patch test first – it’s always a good idea to do this with any new cosmetic product. But whatever is designed for use on children should be kind and gentle enough to trust not to cause any rash or irritation.
That’s my personal opinion on toxic chemicals, who is with me on that?
The takeaway here is to always thoroughly check ingredients before using makeup products.
There must be a safer and healthier way! Let’s have a look at some of the safe Halloween makeup options.
1. Make your own safe Halloween makeup
It’s really hard to find clean and safe Halloween face paints that only contain non-toxic ingredients and don’t contain phenoxyethanol. Although phenoxyethanol is a paraben-free preservative, it still comes with some concerns when used on the sensitive skin of infants. Your best bet is to make your own safe Halloween makeup using natural ingredients.
DIY face paint is really easy to do, and you can be quite confident what’s gone in to it.
Just mix a nappy cream, like Weleda White Mallow Nappy Cream, with natural food colouring gels to make your own safe Halloween makeup. You can always depend on Weleda for safe cosmetics! Their nappy cream is very gentle and formulated with natural vegetable oils and calming zinc oxide, both really safe ingredients. Because this nappy cream is water free, there’s no need for a preservative – magic!
The food colouring gels add natural pigments to the nappy cream – it’s really quite amazing how well this works!
And voila! You’ve just made your own natural face paint that’s suitable for babies and toddlers without any harmful chemicals or expensive cosmetic products!
Okay, so my face painting skills could use some polishing, but I did this in 10 minutes while Jonah had his nap. Bear in mind I’m a first time Mum who’s never painted a face before in my life!
But it really shows how you can get nice colour and finish from something so easy to make at home.
What you need
- Weleda White Mallow Nappy Cream or any thick nappy cream – preferably one that’s unscented and has certified organic ingredients
- Dr Oetker Natural Gel Food Colouring
How to make the face paint
- Squirt some nappy cream on to the back of your hand or a small plate.
- Give the colouring tube a good rub before squeezing so it’s not watery.
- Add the colouring a little at a time and mix well until the face paint reaches your desired pigmentation.
- Do a small patch test if you’re worried about allergic reactions (unlikely) – just add a small amount of the face paint to a hidden area such as the upper arm and wait 24 hours to ensure no reaction develops.
- Use a makeup brush or a clean sponge to apply.
It dries off quite well and won’t brush on to clothes once it’s dry.
Bear in mind the zinc oxide in nappy cream can be a little drying on face skin. It’s only going to be on for a few hours, though!
It wiped off just fine with a Water Wipe and didn’t stain my skin. It might stain clothes though, so take care! You could just use some oil to dissolve the face paint, then wash off with warm water and a face cloth, too. Just be careful not to scrub your child’s face and damage their delicate skin.
Knowing what Jonah is like, I’d say these face paints are probably not suitable for under twos as they just don’t get it and would try to eat it and smear it everywhere before it had chance to dry!
2. Choose a natural face paint kit
There are a couple of makeup products out there sold as kits that are really well formulated and contain no junk ingredients.
Natural Earth Paint
The first of these is Natural Earth Paints. You can buy these this kids’ face paint from various shops, I found them in stock at Myriad Natural Toys & Crafts (£24.99).
The ingredients are really clean – natural clay and mineral pigments, organic castor seed oil, and a gentle preservative. They sport really vibrant colours, too and are the perfect choice for Halloween and birthday parties.
Namaki Face Paints
Next, try Namaki Face Paints. You can get these from Ecco Verde.
COSMOS approved, they stock some really awesome kits with a Halloween theme, and lots of other themes; plus some really pretty individual makeup items (from £4.72). They make a great natural option!
Fake blood
Fake blood you can buy from the shops never discloses its ingredients. I don’t know about you, but I never use anything on my own or Jonah’s skin without first checking the ingredients.
That’s why I’ll be making my own fake blood using a recipe like this one from the Guardian.
Temporary hair colouring
I avoid temporary hair colouring available in spray cans. Most of them have warnings not to use if you suffer hair loss – they seem really harsh and unnatural.
Hair chalks may be a safer bet if you really want to colour your hair. These look great and they say they’re non-toxic, but I’m still waiting to hear back from them about the ingredients. The difference is that they won’t come into contact with the skin.
Hairspray
If you’re going for the wild hair look (like the trending Beetlejuice styles) then you’ll need hairspray options. I use John Masters Organics Hairspray which is plant-based and contains aloe vera and bergamot.
Final thoughts on safer Halloween makeup
Halloween makeup is a lot of fun, but mainstream kits are filled with potentially toxic substances. On the other hand, natural and clean bought kits can be quite expensive. The safest and cheapest option is to make your own face paint, and we’ve seen how to do that with nappy cream and some gel food colouring. This method is undoubtedly the best face paint to use on a small baby. What fun!
Are you using face makeup for Halloween? What are you and the kids dressing up as?
Let me know if the comments. I’d love to hear from you!
Happy spooking!
16 Comments
Love this, thanks for sharing! I am always hesitant to put so much of the store bought Halloween makeup on my face. These are great options for dressing up!
So glad you love it! It’s suspicious how they never print the ingredients! Thanks for commenting. 🙂
Great post! Thanks for sharing these good alternatives. I never want to buy Halloween makeup so these are great options.
I’ve bought it in the past and now I cringe at the ingredients! Glad you found the post helpful, thanks!
I love fun halloween makeup. I’m able to use my regular makeup this year though, which is non toxic.
That’s great! Non-toxic makeup is the best makeup! Let me know your favourite brands!
Oh wow, I’ve never thought about how many chemicals are actually in halloween make up, but it makes sense! Great options and makes it more fun when you do it yourself!!
It’s worrying isn’t it? It’s quite necessary with shop-bought products to use preservatives to inhibit mould and bacteria growth. Homemade is great if you have time since you can make just the right amount – no need to preserve it!
Thanks for sharing – I love the face paint idea. Definitely a more suitable option, especially for kids.
-Lauren
http://www.shootingstarsmag.net
Certainly is, their skin is so much more delicate! Thanks for visiting!
love these fun an awesome ideas!! and nice to know there are safe!
Thank you Lyndsey! Glad you like them!
These are great ideas! It’s so scary to find out what we’re putting on our skin sometimes!
Thanks Erica! Isn’t it? Especially with children who are so much more vulnerable.
Thanks for sharing. I’m a professional makeup artist so there are definitely safe options out there, but if you don’t want to spend the money, this is a great option for beginners.
Oh wow, I’d love to hear about them and I’ll feature them here! I’m in the UK and our top brand contain phenoxyethanol which comes with several health concerns, especially for children. Thanks for reading!